


Ronnie the Rat

by Pussyhands



Series: Dumb Kids [6]
Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Angst, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, Luther is a bastard man, M/M, Pre-Canon, baby mac
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23611231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pussyhands/pseuds/Pussyhands
Summary: Little Ronnie’s sitting on the stoop in front of his house. Across the road a couple of older kids are beating up Travis, from down the street. His father pokes his head out through the open door.“Heh. Serves him right. Fucking faggot”Ronnie’s doesn’t know what that word means. All he knows is that he never wants to be like Travis, and if Travis is getting beat up because he’s a faggot, Ronnie’s never gonna be a faggot.
Relationships: Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds
Series: Dumb Kids [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689493
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	Ronnie the Rat

Little Ronnie’s sitting on the stoop in front of his house. Across the road a couple of older kids are beating up Travis, from down the street. His father pokes his head out through the open door. 

“Heh. Serves him right. Fucking faggot”

Ronnie’s doesn’t know what that word means. All he knows is that he never wants to be like Travis, and if Travis is getting beat up because he’s a faggot, Ronnie’s never gonna be a faggot. 

......

Ronnie loves his Cabbage Patch doll. It’s the best gift he got that Christmas. He cradles it in his arms, sings it the half forgotten lullabies his mother used to sing to him. It’s just a game. His daddy’s yelling at his mom downstairs, and Ronnie doesn’t understand why. All he understands is that it’s because of him. Mom tramples up the stairs, and snatches the doll from Ronnie’s arms. 

“You gotta start manning up Ronnie”

And just like that she’s gone. Holding his doll by one of its little feet. Ronnie finds it in the trash the next day and digs it out. It’s dirty and it smells like garbage. The priests at school say you gotta obey your parents. That’s one of the big ones. And anyways, if Luther found it he’d get the shit beat out of him. So Ronnie puts the doll in his backpack and leaves it on a doorstep on his way to school. At least it’s not the garbage, he thinks as he looks back at it for the last time. He’s got to man up. 

......

Ronnie gets in trouble at school. He guesses Luther wouldn’t mind if he’d gotten in trouble for fighting, or stealing. But Ronnie’s in trouble for letting his best friend Charlie cheat off of him during a test. That makes him two things Luther hates. A nerd, and a chump. Luther doesn’t go to the parent teacher conference, he never does, but he does yell over his mom during dinner, though his mom never does much yelling anymore. 

“The kid’s soft, woman”

So Ronnie stops helping Charlie with his reading. They’re still best friends, but they’ll never walk hand in hand again, and when Charlie comes over, scared and trembling, running from the monsters at home, Ronnie doesn’t hold him and run his hand through his hair anymore. He just tells him to man up and gives him a sip from the bottle he stole from his parents’ bedroom. 

......

Now Ronnie’s Ronnie the Rat. He’s proud, proud of his business savvy, of how much more money he’ll be making for his mom now he’s the man of the house. He tells Luther about it when he goes to visit in prison. Luther just eyes him like Ronnie’s a particularly disgusting insect he just stepped on. 

“Nobody likes a snitch son” 

He spits out. And Ronnie knows he’s right, because not many people like him. Sure Charlie likes him, but nobody likes Charlie either. This girl in his class likes him too. Her name is Tammy and she smells like boiled eggs. Ronnie kisses her once, under the bleachers. It’s awkward and pointless and clammy, so he stops talking to Tammy and Tammy stops liking him. Women are stupid and gross. He never wants to touch a woman again, for as long as he lives. 

“I bet you’re still a virgin”

His father scoffs from the other side of the visitors’ room table, and Ronnie the Rat fucks Tammy the next week. It’s gross and short and disappointing. Ronnie feels like he has to throw up on his way home from Tammy’s. Bent over the dumpster, hacking his guts out, he wonders if Luther would be proud of him now. He’s never going to talk to Tammy again in his life. It’s just this thing you gotta do, like shave or throw punches at the wall until your knuckles bleed. Just this thing you gotta do because you’re a man.

......

Ronnie and Dirtgrub are throwing rocks at each other under the bleachers. 

“Hey”

Ronnie looks up and his heart breaks. 

A boy’s standing in front of him, the sun setting behind him so he’s surrounded by a golden aura. Tall and thin and impossibly beautiful. A rock hits Ronnie on the side of the head, and Ronnie feels blood running down his temple. 

“Charlie stop it!”

......

And that’s where the troubles begin. The boy’s name is Dennis, and Dennis sticks around. The days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months, and Mac can’t stop seeing the goddamn golden aura whenever he looks directly at him, like he’s the fucking sun. Mac knows he doesn’t shine like that. His smile is off white and not sparkling, his cheeks are round and not chiseled, his movements are clumsy and not graceful, his mind is slow and not brilliant, his family is poor and not rich. But he knows he can protect Dennis. Dennis Reynolds, so bright he could burn you with just one look. He can protect him, he can follow him around, make sure no one touches a single hair on his head. 

He doesn’t know how Luther knows, but he knows. His unblinking eyes are always watching, home at last, sitting at the kitchen table like he owns the world. Luther pulls Mac down by his hair, bangs his head against the edge of the table, a small scar to go with the smaller scar made from Charlie’s rock all those months ago, lifetimes. 

“You’re a fucking disappointment boy, sucking on that rich boy’s dick”

But Mac can’t get away from Dennis, even though he tries. He really, really tries. So he starts to resent him. He tries to show him up every chance he gets. He steals from him, he badmouths him, he makes fun of his rich boy problems, his boo-hoo pain. He finds ways to fuck him over. He sleeps with his prom date and he doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt. He’s not sucking no rich kid’s dick. Mac’s a big fucking man. 

......

Mac and Dennis have been drinking all day. Their words are slurring and their legs can’t keep them upright. They fall together in a heap. Laughing, yelling, reveling in being young and alive and drunk. A heavy silence washes over them, and just like that they’re kissing, pawing at each other’s clothes, like they can’t breathe. And just as sudden, Mac is pushing Dennis away. 

“I’m gonna fucking kill you”

But he doesn’t. He gets up and stumbles away, far away. Mac spits at his reflection from the top of the High Street Bridge

“Don’t be a faggot Ronnie”

**Author's Note:**

> It felt fitting to upload this on Easter Sunday.


End file.
